Collaboration is key in the fight against cancer. It is common for LCRC faculty members to support one another's research by exchanging knowledge and expertise.

For example, when Tulane Surgeon Kristen Limbach implanted the first hepatic arterial infusion pump placement at East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans, she was joined in the operating room by fellow LCRC faculty member Dr. Kevin Sullivan, a surgical oncologist with LSU Health New Orleans, who is establishing a similar program at University Medical Center.

The highly specialized procedure, which delivers high-dose chemotherapy directly to the liver is designed to improve outcomes for patients with liver-dominant cancers, such as metastatic colorectal cancer.

This achievement is especially significant for New Orleans and the Gulf South, where colorectal cancer rates and related mortality are among the highest in the nation. Louisiana ranks near the top in late-stage colorectal cancer diagnoses, and more than 50% of colorectal cancer patients will develop liver metastases during the course of their disease. Historically, access to hepatic arterial infusion pump therapy has been limited to a handful of centers nationwide, forcing Southern patients to travel long distances for care.

The two surgeons have also collaborated in the lab to develop in vitro models of peritoneal metastasis.

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